Bernie Sanders’ immigration reform plan also heavily focuses on the expansion of President Obama’s DACA and DAPA programs and the use of executive actions.

In his immigration plan, he outlines his plans to enforce immigration and border security, dismantle for-profit and family detention programs and create a pathway for citizenship.

Sanders blames Mexico’s poor economy and waves of immigrants on the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), even though the Office of the United States Trade Representative states that 30 states report Canada or Mexico as their first or second largest export markets and U.S. manufacturing exports have increased 258% since implemented in 1994.

The Priority Enforcement Program requires that the fingerprints of arrested and booked individuals, which are already sent to the FBI, must also be sent to ICE to determine if the individual is a priority removal.

“Priority 1 (threats to national security, border security, and public safety)”

“Priority 2 (misdemeanants and new immigration violators)”

“Priority 3 (other immigration violations)”

The memorandum says that priority 1s must be removed and priorities 2 and 3 should be removed.

Additionally, removal may be deferred if the alien qualifies “for asylum or another form of relief under our laws, or unless, in the judgement of an ICE Field Office Director, CBP Sector Chief of Field Operations, there are compelling and exceptional factors that clearly indicate the alien is not a threat to national security, border security, or public safety and should not therefore be an enforcement priority.”

The 287(g) is an agreement where ICE provides a four-week training program “which trains local offices to enforce immigration law.”

Also, ICE has training programs in place with 32 law enforcement agencies in 16 states, has “trained and certified more than 1,675 state and local officers to enforce immigration law” and credits the program with “identifying more than 402,079 potentially removable aliens.”

Furthermore, states like Arizona have taken local immigration control to a new level with legislation demanding that local police demand proof of immigration status based on reasonable suspicions, which basically means physical appearance, language or accent.

Former-Governor Janice Brewer signed Executive Order No. 2010-09, which states, “Senate Bill 1070 requires a law enforcement official… when lawful contact is made and reasonable suspicion exists that the person is an alien who is unlawfully present in the United States, to reasonably attempt, when practical, to determine the immigration status of the person”.

In a 5-3 opinion, the Supreme Court of the United States upheld the constitutionality of the “reasonable attempt to determine the immigration status of a person stopped”.

On April 23, 2015, several hundred people protested the five-year anniversary of the bill at the capitol building and nearby areas (It’s important to note that those interviewed speak English, the interviews were conducted in Spanish as a personal, student project).

Sanders also plans to extend deferred action and parole in place for certain immigrants.

Among these immigrants would be veterans and family members of military service members.

In order to serve in the United States military, an immigrant only needs permanent legal residence, also known as a green card.

However, citizenship is not guaranteed through enlistment and veterans with permanent legal residency can be deported for committing felonies and veterans whose residencies have expired can be deported for committing any kind of violation.

However, his use of executive action regarding who will and will not be deported is the same use of action that is currently awaiting a decision by the Supreme Court of the United States as to whether or not such action is constitutional.

In January of 2016, Sanders stated that he would expand humanitarian parole for deported veterans, meaning they could return to the United States for emergency or humanitarian reasons.

With Republican frontrunner Donald Trump winning Indiana, John Kasich and Ted Cruz have dropped out of the race.

However, Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders are still campaigning hard to win the Democratic nomination.